Farm Credit of Virginias CEO to retire

Brad Cornelius, CEO of Farm Credit of the Virginias, will retire in the fourth quarter, ending a 33-year career with the Farm Credit System, a financial cooperative owned by member-borrowers.

Cornelius has led the Farm Credit of the Virginias since 2020, according to a Thursday announcement by the Staunton-based organization. Farm Credit of the Virginias provides financing to farmers, agribusinesses and rural homeowners throughout Virginia, West Virginia and western Maryland. The national farm credit system is the largest provider of agricultural credit in the United States.

When Cornelius took the job, the cooperative provided over $1.8 billion in financing to more than 11,000 customer-owners. Today, the Farm Credit of the Virginias provides more than $2.3 billion in loans to more than 12,500 customer-owners.

“Under Brad’s leadership, he has created a culture of excellence and accountability as he focused on growing the association, serving our customer-owners and communities and expanding our cooperative’s investments in talent, educational resources and technology and process improvements,” Kevin Craun, board chair of Farm Credit of the Virginias, said in a statement.

Cornelius began his career at AgGeorgia Farm Credit, where he worked as a loan officer, branch manager and regional lending manager. He went on to work as chief credit officer of AgChoice Farm Credit in Pennsylvania and served as CEO of Cape Fear Farm Credit in North Carolina.

“Serving those who work in agriculture has been the focus of my career, and it is gratifying to know that I am leaving the cooperative in a solid position,” Cornelius said in a statement.

The cooperative’s board will launch a national search to fill the CEO role.